New Perspectives in Science Education

This study reports declines in pre- to post-semester motivation in college math and science classes as measured by Glynn et al.’s Science Motivation Questionnaire II (SMQII).  Researchers collected pre- and post-semester motivation data for 933 students across 47 class sections and three semesters. Confirmatory factor analysis substantiated the five-factor structure of the SMQII. Comparing pre- to post-semester data for students completing both surveys, a statistically significant decline was observed for all motivation factors, with effect sizes ranging from - 0.15 for the factor Self Determination to -0.37 for the factor Career Motivation. Although pre- to post-term motivational declines are not without precedent, we are aware of no other study documenting motivation decline across multiple class sections and STEM disciplines.

No differences in overall motivation or motivation decline were detected by race/ethnicity, and pre- to post-semester declines were mostly the same for males and females. The exception is the factor Self-Determination (including items such as “I study hard to learn science” and “I prepare well for science tests and labs”), where male scores decreased significantly more than female scores with an effect size of 0.12. Interestingly, males decreased more despite the fact that males actually pretested lower than females in Self-Determination (effect size = 0.23). However, in Self-Efficacy (including items such as “I am sure I can understand science” and “I am confident I will do well on science tests”), males pretested and post-tested considerably higher than females with an effect size of 0.51. This data can inform strategic reform efforts of STEM programs to improve introductory student experience and retention. Supported by NSF #1347234